Further information has been announced by the Ministry of Labour, Welfare and Social Insurance in regards to the application of the Special Scheme for Partial Suspension of Business for coping with the effects of COVID-19.
Any business can be included in the Special Partial Suspension Scheme if its operations have been partially suspended as long as its turnover has decreased by more than 25% for the period starting from March 16, 2020 until April 2020, compared to the corresponding period in 2019. The reduction in turnover should be solely due to the current situation. In case the company did not have operations in 2019, the comparison for the reduction of turnover will be done by using the months immediately preceding March 2020.
Facts in brief:
The company should not dismiss any employees between 1 March 2020 and throughout the participation in the scheme as well as an additional period equal to the period the scheme is in force.
Companies employing up to 50 employees can join the program for 75% of the total insurable employees while companies employing more than 50 employees can join the program for 60% of employees.
For companies employing up to two persons, the Special Benefit Unemployment cover will cover all the employees.
Shareholders, managers and executives of companies are not to be included in the plan unless the management and officials exceed 25% or 40% respectively of the total number of employees. In such cases, they may apply for Special Unemployment Income as long as the rest of the conditions are met.
The Company will submit 2 lists: one will include the employees who will remain active during the program and the second with employees who will be inactive.
For the period from which Special Benefit Unemployment is in place, the employer is exempt from the obligation of paying salaries. If the employer wants to assign tasks to the inactive employees they will need to agree on the amount to be paid for the hours worked.
Please visit https://www.pay.sid.mlsi.gov.cy/CovidForms/FormEa004EmployerServlet to complete the application. Eurofast can assist you with questions and required clarifications or completing the form on your behalf.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
